Hungarian diabetics will be ‘punished’ if they fail to stick to their healthy eating diet by being banned from having modern treatment – a government decree has announced.

Under new rules, diabetics will have blood tests every three months and if their blood sugar levels are higher than average, officials will have the right to restrict the patients’ access to treatments using analog insulin (an expensive, more effective form of insulin).

The Hungarian government is hoping that this new scheme will reduce the amount of money spent on diabetes care – around 30 billion Hungarian forints (around £82m).

“Taxpayers’ money should not be spent on patients who don’t cooperate with their doctor,” states the decree, published in the Official Journal.

Will the UK follow suit?

In Britain, the cost of diabetes to the NHS is around £1m an hour, or 10% of the NHS’ budget for England and Wales. This equates to approximately £16,666 being spent on diabetes every minute.

In total, £9 billion is spent a year treating diabetes and the complications that follow.

It’s estimated that the cost of diabetes in the UK will soar to £4m an hour by 2025.